


Two Wrongs Making a Right

by pepperminteeth



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 17:58:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4715180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepperminteeth/pseuds/pepperminteeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter is admiring the rainclouds when suddenly a small thief fails at stealing his umbrella, then decides to stick around for the walk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Wrongs Making a Right

A melancholy hue painted itself across the sky today, a roaring downpour of rain made rhythmic noises on the now saturated asphalt. Grey clouds above hung low and heavy, slightly freighting Peter with the idea that if one could possibly fall on top of him. The boy stared down at his dirt smeared goulashes as he trudged through various puddles with loud splashes. He wasn’t quite sure how he exactly felt about rain, in fact the very idea of it seemed numb to Peter. Living in England it didn’t very much matter what your opinion was about it. Either way you were still going to get an abundance of it.

                Peter peered at the dark clouds through his umbrella, occasionally wiping a short blonde tuff of hair out of his eyes. I guess that he did have some sort of affinity with the rainclouds themselves, not so much so much the rain part. Every person with eyes can see a cloud, but no one really bothered to acknowledge them, or even care where they went. You would expect for at least one person to wonder what such a young boy his age was doing walking amongst neighborhoods at the break of dawn, but no. Not an eyelash batted in his direction as he sauntered along in the heavy drizzle, his rugged clothes damp and a bandanna was tied around his head like a pirate. Peter remembered reading a quote somewhere in a bakery that read “ _I wandered lonely as a cloud.”_ It was an odd place to put such a quote, but he wondered if those words were put there just for him, as if his very life derived from that quote. Peter shook his head on how conceded he sounded, thinking that was put there solely for his own self.

 _Just because you relate to it doesn’t mean it applies to you, jerk._ Peter spat bitterly to himself as he stormed through another puddle. The boy did have an awful habit of shooting himself down, but he had convinced himself that someone had to keep him in check.

The glow of the streetlamps were darkened as he turned a corner, now realizing he had walked himself into a narrow passage, nestled tightly between two apartment buildings. Peter was hardly phased by the rather eerie setting before him, so he kept walking, making sure not to step in any trash or broken glass. Peter was in such a trance by the clouds that it took him a moment that his umbrella ad been cleanly picked out of his grip, the rain now quickly soaking his head and shoulders. He quickly whipped his entire body around to see the light blue fabric of his umbrella being hastily carried away, a pair of brown boots sticking out beneath it.

Immediately Peter made a dash towards the thief, his slightly longer legs then that of the culprit making it easy for Peter to get the jump on them. Peter easily grasped the leg of the mugger and yanked it above the ground, causing the person to land forward onto the alleyway’s ground and have his umbrella tumble forward.  The thief was roughly his size, give or take a few inches, and was currently shielding their face with the sleeves of their oversized jacket, which had clearly seen better days. Peter inched himself onto their body, straddling them snuggly between his thighs.

“You think it’s nice to steal things you jerk?” Peter practivally yelled in their face, his face carved in a sour expression. “Well go on, no need hiding your stupid face now.”

Slowly the face of a young and highly frieghtened boy appeared, a pair of wild hazel eyes were clouded with fear, and a mess of short chocolate hair stuck out in odd places. His cheeks were slightly sunken in, and a pair of long canines stuck out of his chapped lips.

“Please,” The boy whispered, his voice lilting of a Romanian accent and shaking. “Don’t hurt me. I am sorry.”

Peter’s heavy scowl immediately softened and was replaced with a look of sympathy.

“I wasn’t planning on beating you up or anything.” Peter said reassuringly to the boy.

“But,” Peter furrowed his thick eyebrows and leaned in a little. “I want my umbrella back.”

The small child bobbed his head frantically, pointing a frail finger to it as it rested sideways on the ground. Peter grunted a response and got off the boy, his main priority being staying dry rather than dealing with some petty pickpocket. He slowly raised his umbrella over his head and began to walk to the other end of the alleyway, but stooping in his track when a small voice called behind him.

“I am Maxim. What is your name?”

Peter narrowed his gaze in confusion and turned his head around to face the boy, who was evidently not that much caring about being drenched by the rain.

“What so first you try to mug me and then you try to be my friend?” Peter said tartly, seeing Maxim cringe slightly at his harsh tone.

“But I gave it back.”

Peter snorted at his remark, but instantly regretted it when he saw a look of sincerity in the boy’s eyes. He let out a small sigh and turned his entire body towards Maxim.

“I’m Peter.”

“Where are you going?”

“Why do you need to know?”

Maxim shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Maybe I could keep you company? After all I did almost steal your stuff.”

“First off,” Peter announced slightly irritated. “You _did_ steal my stuff, you just didn’t get away with it. Second, how is that a reason to come on a walk with me?”

Maxim shrugged his shoulders again, his smile falling off of his face as he spun the toe of his boot into the ground nervously. “You seem lonely is all. Are you not lonely?”

Peter stared blankly at the boy, the cyan of his irises darkened at the boy’s question. Yes, he was lonely, but he wasn’t so sure if he wanted the company, not just of Maxim but of anyone in general. Then again, maybe it wasn’t the fact that he wanted the company, but more on the lines that he _needed_ it. Peter gave out a deep sigh and beckoned the boy over with his hand.

“Come on.”

Maxim’s face lit up with glee as he skipped over to Peter’s side, in which to his surprise showed that Maxim was only a mere inch shorter than him. Together the pair ventured out of the ally and back onto the main sidewalk, the sky slightly lighting up with the rain. Peter tilted his umbrella at an angle to where it could cover the two, making Peter have to come awkwardly close with the other boy.

                The pair walked in silence for almost two blocks, Peter was too busy mindlessly staring at Maxim as they walked along. Peter noticed the rugged condition of his clothes was similar to his own, various handmade patchwork littered the old fabric of his baggy jacket, and his boots looked like they had been around for centuries. Peter also noticed how every step or so he would skip, perhaps from excitement or force of habit. His skin was ivory and much darker than Peter’s, but yet it gave off something of a sickly glow. Almost every bone that wasn’t covered by clothes was visible, his collar bones caved deep into his skin as if he had never seen the lights of a decent meal, then again it did make sense, for the boy did seem like he was living in poverty.

“So,” Peter said slowly, dragging out the ‘o’ in the word. “Do you like live in that alley or something?”

Maxim shook his head. “No. Me and my big brother Vlad live in a small building around here. Today he had to go get food for us, so I decided to walk around.”

                Peter nodded his head attentively and gestured for Maxim to continue.

“Vlad is always pretty busy, though. He loves me very much and I know it, but he is always working very hard to make sure we have food and other things.” Maxim kicked a pebble with his foot and began to slow down. “It does get lonely sometimes.”

                Peter took his gaze to the ground, feeling uneasy about Maxim’s story. Peter combed his hand through his wet hair.

                “I get what you mean. My jerk of a dad barely knows I leave the house most of the time. He’s always busy with work and other dumb stuff. In fact barely anyone ever talks to me really.”

“Except for me?” Peter’s question made his cheeks burn with crimson, too embarrassed to admit he was pretty much right. Instead a heavy silence fell between the two, the only noise being the susurration of the wind between the various trees that lined the street. Peter clutched the umbrella handle tighter as the wind began to pick up on it, his steps slowing down with each gust that swept his umbrella. The rain had lighten up, but the raindrops felt like daggers with the gale brewing up. Next thing he knew Peter’s umbrella began to spin in a violent way, making him swing around and eventually tumble into Maxim, leaving them in a messy pile on the sidewalk.

                The two boy’s cheeks burned with a dark vermillion as they fell on top of each other, their noses slightly touching. Peter could feel the hot breath of Maxim’s press against his face, which made his heart thump hard. Embarrassed, Peter flung himself off of Maxim and began to frantically scoot away from the boy, a look of pure mortification plastered on his face. Maxim said nothing as he began to sit up from the sidewalk and hug his knees, a light blush still dusted on his cheeks. Peter reached crawled over a few feet to grab his umbrella, which was being slowly carried away by the wind.

“I’m uh- I’m sorry about that.” Peter murmured, his own voice trailing off at the end. Maxim hummed a response and began to stand up, still silent. Peter did the same and they began to walk again, this time with the umbrella closed. After all they couldn’t possibly get more soaked then they already were.

                Peter and Maxim walked for a few more blocks, making small comments to each other as they watched the sky begin to leak with the light blue light of the day. The wind still raged on, which began to chill the still soaked pair to the bone, however it was a good thing the rain had stopped. Eventually they came across a collection of rather old and poor-looking apartment complexes and houses, being a part of the city that Peter had not ventured to walk through yet. Or at least tried to avoid.

“I think Vlad is back at home now. It has been a while.” Maxim had said as he began to scan an upcoming building. He suddenly stopped and turned his gaze towards Peter’s.

“I think it would be best if you went home. Big brother Vlad isn’t too nice when it comes to meeting new people.”

                The grave tone in Maxim’s voice sent a wave of shivers down his spine, making his shoulders tense up.

“But,” A small smile tugged at the corners of Maxim’s narrow lips, revealing his fang-like set of teeth.

“Maybe some other time you can meet him.”

“Are you saying you want to go for another walk sometime?”

Maxim nodded his head, making his odd hair bounce up and down. “Yes. I would like that very much. And I promise next time I will not try and steal your umbrella.”

                Peter let out a small chuckle, twirling the umbrella in his hands like it was a sword. He glanced down at it, giving a long and hard look before meeting Maxim’s gaze again. Peter then extended his arms and proceeded to hand the umbrella to Maxim.

“Here. You need it more than I do.” Peter said sheepishly, another blush creeping onto his face. Peter peered through his eyelashes at the boy, whose almond like eyes began to shine like stars. He flashed Peter a toothy smile, in which Peter slowly returned. However to Peter’s astonishment Maxim lunged at him, swinging his arms violently around his neck in a violent embrace. Peter’s face began to flare as his own hands trembled in uncertainty on whether or not to hug him back. Gingerly Peter wrapped his arms around Maxim’s torso and gave him a small squeeze, which made Maxim hug him even tighter. It felt like minutes they were in each other’s arms before an older voice called out into the street, sounding of something of heavenly script to Peter’s ears. Maxim held up a finger and craned his neck to shout back, none of it making sense to the other boy.

_Different language, maybe. Cool._

Maxim fixed his gaze back on Peter. “I have to leave now. But maybe tomorrow we can walk again with my new umbrella. Maybe we can meet up in that alleyway at dawn. Is that okay?”

                Peter flashed a smile and nodded his head in agreement. Maxim then began to spin on his heels and sprint towards the building with the umbrella, not another word spoken between the two.

                Peter thought it was odd that he and that pickpocket could just all of a sudden become friends like that, perhaps it was their desire for friendship that brought them together. Maybe it was fate. Peter chuckled to himself on how cliché he sounded. He huffed loudly and shoved his hand into his pockets, swinging his head back to gaze at the now almost clear sky. The rainclouds in the sky had almost completely disappeared, except for two that slowly traveled north with the wind, still dark and ominous in color, as if at any moment they could burst again.

 _“I wandered lonely as a cloud.”_ The quote rang in Peter’s ears as he silently walked along. The pair of clouds grew further and further away from Peter’s eyes, until they were perfectly hidden behind a tall building that loomed over him. Peter looked over his shoulder to get one last look at Maxim’s house before he turned the corner.

 

 _“I wandered lonely as a cloud.”_ Peter smiled softly to himself.

 _You know,_ He thought _. The person who wrote that forgot there is more than just one cloud in the sky._


End file.
